Exits Let Obama Cut His Losses Before Storm Worsens

When the political winds start to blow in Washington, it’s hard to know exactly when they’ll get strong enough to knock you down.

What’s clear is that sometimes it’s better to just fold up your tent and find cover.

That’s exactly what happened Tuesday in Washington. Tents were folded, and it wasn’t a pretty sight for the new Obama administration. But the White House is lucky. The scene would have been uglier, and the collateral damage more severe, if things had dragged on while the storm gathered force.

Former Sen. Tom Daschle, buffeted by disclosures regarding his multimillion-dollar post-Senate life, and his failure to pay taxes on one particularly luxurious part of it, pulled the plug on his own nomination to be both Health and Human Services secretary and White House maestro of health reform.

Just hours earlier, President Barack Obama’s newly appointed “government performance czar,” Nancy Killefer, did the same thing, backing out of her new job amid new controversy over her failure to pay taxes on household help.

The White House insists the two jumped of their own free will — as opposed to having been pushed out — and the evidence at hand certainly supports that.

If that’s the case, Mr. Daschle and Ms. Killefer did the new president an enormous favor. Mr. Obama had two powerful reasons to want these distractions moved out of the way, and swiftly.

First, this is the time when perceptions of a new administration begin to harden, and those perceptions are awfully hard to break once they do so. The fight over tax compliance was in danger of coloring those perceptions in a lasting way.

Second, the new administration’s priority list is short and simple right now. It needs to get an economic stimulus bill through Congress, and it needs to figure out a smart way to spend the $350 billion in remaining funds to rescue the financial markets. Anything that gets in the way of following through on those two priorities amounts to an unnecessary distraction that the Obama team needs to move aside.

Some will, of course, make a counterargument that the decision by the administration and its nominees to fold in the face of trouble is a sign of weakness that will only embolden the president’s foes and invite further attacks.

And there certainly is something to that line of argument. But it’s hard to see that anything noble or uplifting was going to come out of continuing the struggle that was taking shape.

The first problem, obviously, was that the embarrassment of Mr. Daschle’s and Ms. Killefer’s failure to pay all their taxes came after the same problem dogged Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Mr. Geithner now appears lucky to have gotten himself confirmed by the Senate before the other storm clouds appeared.

Three examples make a trend, and trends produce story lines. The story line that was taking shape wasn’t just embarrassing for the new administration, but distinctly at odds with its proclaimed mission to force change in the way Washington does business. The White House needed to alter the dynamic before the perception took hold that its change promise was hollow, and Mr. Daschle’s departure makes that easier.

In that vein, the problem with Mr. Daschle’s nomination wasn’t simply that he didn’t pay taxes on the value of a limousine and driver whose use he received free of charge from a firm for which he was a consultant. It was as much the appearance of his accepting the car and driver on top of $4 million or so in earnings he received from a law firm and a private equity-firm that were interested in him mostly because he was a former senator. There also were starting to be uncomfortable questions about work Mr. Daschle did for a company called EduCap that is under investigation by tax authorities.

Beyond that, the last thing an administration, particularly a new one, needs is for its problems to become the subject of political jokes, and that was about to happen. (Example: “Washington, the city where cheering for the Redskins is mandatory, but paying your taxes is optional.”)

In political terms, it’s pretty obvious that a nominee has serious trouble when the liberal editorial page of The New York Times and the conservative editorial page of this newspaper both call on him to step aside, which is what happened to Mr. Daschle this week.

The departures also should help the White House avoid a scenario in which extraneous issues serve to detract attention from its core economic agenda, or to sap the president’s political power to pursue it.

Mr. Obama enjoys some powerful advantages right now, but they are perishable. His job approval rating is in the 65% range; Congress’s is in the 25% range. In the most recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, eight in 10 Americans said they like the new president personally, whether they agree with his policies or not.

The weeks ahead will help determine whether the president can take advantage of such assets, and make them last. A prolonged argument over tax compliance didn’t figure to help.

Comments (5 of 9)

Truly it is certainly interesting for me to read that article. Thanks for it. I like such themes and anything connected to this matter. I would like to read a bit more on that blog soon.

8:52 am February 6, 2009

daniel cabrera wrote :

So much for the so called ‘bi-partisian aproach’. It is a monumental joke , really,…but that was expected.Not only that ,…more ‘pledge’(promises) like for example, ‘transparency’ –he-he-he-he,! BIG LAUGH there !

Anyway, one of the latest:- contraceptives to aleviate the financial stress (Pelosi’s ultimate super-duper-smart idea !) ,…and of course, Geithner is indeed the new money man after he himself cheated the IRS.

Well,well, well,…ha-ha-ha the CORRUPTION IS NOT ONLY HERE IN WASHINGTON ,…it seems to go all the way out there to outer space ,…all the way to Planen Pluto ( although Pluto cannot bark any more saying that still considered a planet). In other words CROOKS CONTINUE TO BE ADDED TO THE MIX ! That is Obama works for you people!

And if not enough, Corrupted Chicago Mess is expanding too only the galaxy knows.

Just a view:

Any animal will fight to the death when feels in danger, correct on this?,….and,we , humans, are the very worst among animals and so , the most dangerous ones,…correct too? Gov Blagojevich is under mighty disturbance, and so, it would be logical to say he will fight to the death, correct on that one too?

Humm,….with that said, how about this angle?,…my input on this Gov Blagojevich scenario;
I think that the governor should and must try to take down with him (he is going down alright ) ,…try to take down with him AS MANY AS HE POSSIBLY CAN. Number of his suposely ‘friends’ are giving him the back and some even stabbing-back at him.

So, is war to the end ,…so logic dictates that he should uncovered all those individuals ( some of them already in Washington in the new administration) name them, so the public will know them for real,…EVEN IF IN THE PROCESS, PRES OBAMA FALLS IN THE MIX TOO,…AFTER ALL HE IS PRODUCT OF THE SAME CHICAGO-CORRUPTED POLILTICAL ATMOSPHERE,…so, should Obama is one of the ones to go down ,…that will not take me for surprise at all !,….AND NOBODY, ABSOLUTELY NOBODY !, SHOULD BE SURPRISED FOR THAT, NEITHER.

Well, that is all I have to say about this one issue on Gov Blagojevich,

Thanks , for reading.
sincerely,
Daniel Cabrera
Merrillville, Indiana

5:46 pm February 5, 2009

daniel cabrera wrote :

Did you noticed?,...the president slilghtly detoured the road to re-group in the agenda of 'stimulus'
Ok, may be this will stimulate some of you;

Great speech about religion-unity and tolerance, the president gave at the ‘praying breakfast’. As always, great oratorial,…but make no mistake that really is/was an attempt to regain some ( if not all) the fading ‘power over the masses’,….masses that no longer swallow the scam of the so called ’stimulus’.

You see, it seems nobody knows where the first half of the original ’stimulus’ went,…but I have a theory.

I am sending my view to you guys too.
The possible (and obvious one) is just STEALING, CORRUPTION , AND DISHONESTY.

My opinion?,…simple, they misused and abused the first half , just the way they originally abused our trust and money before when all started ;….(Fannie,Freddie, and all them crooks and thieves backed by the ‘cover-up gang’:- Pelosi, Reid, Cox, Dood , and others weeds )

Now , they are PRETENTING an investigation about what happenned - right !,…( like we the people we are going to suck on that one ! ).

Actually I do believe they are trying to find ways how to abuse the second half and how to cheat even more the public with this bogus second so called ’stimulus’.

Bottom line , if Obama really wants to be praised and remembered as the true ‘mesianinc magic one’ ?,…he has to RISK to be an OUTCAST and risk POLITICAL SUICIDE for the call is to get rid of ALL THAT CORRUPTION AND DISHONESTY IN WASHINGTON AND IN THE FINANCIAL SPECTRUM,….the question is ,…WILL HE DO THAT ? I have my doubts on this one.

Have a good day
Daniel Cabrera
Merrillville, Indiana

10:53 pm February 4, 2009

Aidan wrote :

Hi You Hey Here Is My Phone 303-361-9823

1:26 pm February 4, 2009

Anonymous wrote :

Must be Daniel's day to use the computer at the sanitarium.

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